Internet
Explorer 9 looks to make up much ground for poor previous outings by Microsoft
browsers. But even as it remedies slow performance and lacking standards,
IE 9 is threatened by a slick set of super-fast browsers from smaller third
parties who don't happen to be named Mozilla.

Among those challengers is Google's Chrome 10, which was just released in beta
form last week. Like IE 9 and Firefox 4, Chrome adds the much desire GPU
hardware acceleration to Google's framework for the first time. According
to Google's blog on
the release:

In full screen mode, CPU usage may decrease by as much as 80%!

Other major improvements have been made to Chrome's core Javascript engine.
Dubbed V8, the new engine offers 66 percent improvement in the
company's V8
benchmark suite over the version found in the last stable build.

The new version of Chrome also introduced synced passwords, which allows you to
share passwords across your (possibly) many computers. The system
includes passphrase protection, so your passwords are less likely to fall into
the wrong hands.

Google needs to put its best foot forward with Chrome as the company is going
to use the browser as the basis
of its upcoming operating system. Built atop a base Linux kernel, the
browser-centeric operating system should prove a unique competitor to
Microsoft's Windows operating systems.

A Web Store was
recently added to Chrome in preparation for the release of Chrome OS.
The web store allows developers to write web apps (games, music players,
etc.) in languages like Javascript and PHP and sell them or offer them in
ad-supported form.